Iberian Pig shows signs of maturity

Barcelona Wine Bar

This tapas bar sits on the main drag in Inman Park, forever bursting with customers overflowing the generous interior to a wraparound patio. Stop in for tapas like the cuminy spinach and chickpea casserole or the octopus, with its nice char and hearty paprika-spiced fingerling potatoes. Linger to try the many wines by the glass. The owners have recently opened Bartaco on the Westside. 240 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-589-1010, barcelonawinebar.com. $$-$$$.

Eclipse di Luna

Standards such as the fried calamari and decadent, crisp-edged potatoes with spicy Romesco sauce are always a hit, like an old song everyone hums along to. In a riff of Spanish meat mania, serrano is served with chorizo and pork loin alongside peppy roasted peppers and olives. Or a simple serving of grilled asparagus spears with shards of nutty manchego hits the spot. It can get loud, especially on a Friday or Saturday night. Mojitos help. 764 Miami Circle N.E., Atlanta. 404-846-0449, miamicircle.eclipsediluna.com. $-$$.

Red Sky Tapas

Groups gather to sing along with the dueling pianos that perform each weekend. With a long list of sweet cocktails and more than 60 shot selections, there are plenty of options to enliven the evening. Order several rounds of tapas, including the stuffed portobello mushroom with bruschetta and mozzarella and the sweet fried plantains with mango salsa. Tapas fly out of the kitchen, so you'll need to pace yourself. 1255 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta. 770-973-0100, www.redskytapas.com. $-$$.

The Iberian Pig, that kinda-sorta Spanish restaurant on Decatur Square, has got such a warm vibe, such a true spirit of hospitality at work, such an ambitious food and drink menu, and so many fans that I always feel kind of churlish when I admit it isn’t my favorite.

The food comes at a reasonable price and looks so happy that, in the past, I’ve wanted to like it more than I was able. But I always left wishing there were fewer bits of dried fruit, pungent cheese and other doodads in many of the dishes. These baroque creations often ended up tasting like an over exuberant pileup from the Whole Foods salad bar.

But I did check in recently and it seemed to me that chef Chad Crete had tuned things down a little to good effect. For instance, the namesake ibérico ham now arrives with only a few good oil-cured olives and some bread rather than the perplexing espresso aïoli that used to show up alongside. I loved our portion of richly fatty paleta ham from the shoulder rather than the leg.

A beautiful plate of seared sea scallops with bacon and fava beans could hold its own at any restaurant in town. Also very good: fat lengths of chorizo sausage grilled until they burst open like popcorn, caramelized in their juices and topped with a mild slaw. This is the dish you want to eat at the bar with a glass of good tempranillo and then see where your appetite takes you.

Some of the old excess remains apparent. A salad of shaved kohlrabi and green apple is sweet and oily in its sesame-ginger dressing and outfitted with so many sliced almonds, blobs of goat cheese and bits of roasted pepper that it seems more 1970s ladies magazine than Spanish tapa.

And chewy, balsamic-drizzled eggplant slices seem to have come from a different kitchen than the scallops. I shouldn't make fun of the plating, but an assemblage of asparagus spears arranged in a star pattern does kind of remind me of the felt cut-outs my kids brought back from art class. OK, that was churlish.

But, really, the eggplant needed a good salting or overnight soak in milk to be rendered as something nice to eat. Instead, it had the texture of mattress foam, and the leathery cap of mozzarella atop each slice only made things chewier.

Service, as always, was top-notch. Our waitress did a terrific job of describing both the food and drink, and she kept a watchful eye on our table even though she had a lot of tables to take care of.

This is a really warm-spirited restaurant. Cocktails are good. The wine list covers some territory. The crowd here is a happy one. And, now, I’ve found some food I’d want to go back for.